Justin Liberto Wins Second WSOP Bracelet After 11-Year Wait

It had been 11 years since Justin Liberto last captured a World Series of Poker bracelet. In the years since, he had come painfully close time and again, recording runner-up, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, and ninth-place finishes at WSOP final tables without breaking through for another title.

Liberto never allowed those near misses to discourage him, however, and his persistence was finally rewarded in Event #14: $1,500 Mixed: Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better/Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (“Big O”). After outlasting a field of 1,287 entrants, Liberto defeated Chris Lee in a hard-fought heads-up battle to capture his second WSOP bracelet and the $265,297 first-place prize.

Event #14: $1,500 Mixed Omaha Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

“Yeah, I’ve been itching to close one out,” Liberto told PokerNews shortly after his victory. “I’ve gotten every spot at the final table, except first, since I got (my first bracelet), so, I feel well overdue, and I’m really happy.”

Liberto’s path to the bracelet was a bumpy one, and, despite entering Day 3 with the chip lead, he found himself with a middling stack about halfway through the day after losing a series of pots.

“That’s the fortune coming in with all the chips that, getting back down to two million, it still had me at an average stack, so I was alright,” Liberto explained on fighting through adversity. “I still felt very confident in how I was playing, and I’ve always been good at staying very even-keeled through ups and downs.”

Before the event, Liberto had already achieved three cashes this summer and said he feels “dangerous” heading into the rest of the series.

“I believe in momentum in poker. I believe confidence in decisions, and I feel very dangerous right now, so we’ll see what happens.”

From three-handed play until he won, Liberto had a rail of supporters cheering him on, something that he said he feels blessed to have.

“I have so many people in my life that just make everything so easy for me, and I’m just so blessed to be where I am with my wife, my amazing children, and my family, and my friends are just out of this world. I’m super blessed.”

Day 3 Action

The final day saw 24 players return to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, with Liberto leading the way fresh off his third WSOP cash of the series and seeking a second gold bracelet.

While several short stacks hit the rail within the first level, Jean Laurent got off to a fast start after scooping Thomas Taylor early, setting the tone for what would become a deep run to the final table.

Two-time bracelet winner Brandon Shack-Harris also surged early, climbing from 500,000 to 1,600,000 after first doubling through Jordan Siegel and later getting paid off with a flush against David Yarbrough in Big O.

Taylor, Siegel, and Yarbrough soon followed to the rail, alongside Dekel Balas, Matthew Beinner, Woody Deck, Benjamin Goldstein, George Wang, Kevin Choi, and Brandon Cantu — whose run ended after flopping top two pair and getting run down by Lee Rough, who improved to a flush with a low.

Immediately after the first break, Chris Lee and Joseph Weinberger both found crucial doubles to stay alive. Weinberger tripled through Liberto and Rough in Big O after making a wheel, while Lee spiked runner-runner to crack Michael Banducci’s aces in Omaha Hi-Lo.

By this stage, Laurent had already seized the chip lead and extended it further after taking the lion’s share of a three-way pot with a set of deuces and the nut low against Liberto and Lawrence Berg.

Berg was eliminated shortly after, along with Reagan Rich, bringing the Day 3 field down to 12 just as players were sent on their second break.

Five-time bracelet winner Brad Ruben surged up the leaderboard after eliminating Banducci with a straight in Omaha Hi-Lo, but Liberto quickly regained the chip lead by dragging a massive three-way pot against Rough and Laurent with Broadway, eliminating Rough in the process.

Another three-way all in saw Ariel Mantel‘s tournament end in tenth place, while Brian Battistone busted just shy of the final table in ninth after getting counterfeited with two pair against Naween Fernando in Omaha Hi-Lo

The Final Table

Liberto quickly took control of the final table by scooping Edward Spivack in Omaha Hi-Lo, who then became the first player to bust after getting his remaining chips in against Laurent and getting scooped in the same game.

Liberto then became the first player to breach the eight-figure mark after forcing a fold from Laurent on the river in Big O.

Weinberger’s impressive run finally came to an end in seventh after riding a short stack for some time and then committing the majority of his stack with aces in Big O against Lee. Unfortunately for Weinberger, Lee hit a wheel on the river to score the scoop and bring the field down to six.

Not long after, Lee claimed another final table casualty against Fernando in the same game after cracking Fernando’s kings to secure the second chip position just behind Liberto.

With hardly a lull in the action, a pair of poker veterans were eliminated by Lee in quick succession. Ruben committed his stack preflop in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo against Lee, holding overcards to Lee’s pocket tens. The runout bricked out for Ruben — eliminating him in fifth and boosting Lee’s stack to almost even against Liberto. Several hands later, Shack-Harris got all in against Lee only to find himself out-kicked and against the nut low to be sent out in fourth.

Three-handed play saw Laurent lose the majority of his chips to both Liberto and Lee after a couple of hands in Big O didn’t go his way. Despite doubling up his short stack once, Laurent couldn’t hang on and had to settle for a third-place finish after being forced all in blind from the big blind holding pocket queens and getting out-flopped by Lee, who made a pair of kings.

Liberto held a slight chip lead over Lee entering their heads-up duel, but Lee came out swinging and pulled to nearly even within the first several hands of play.

Liberto answered right back, however, and scored a large pot off of Lee after check-raising huge on the river in a round of Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo.

Lee was far from done and proceeded to grind Liberto down in a series of smaller pots that ended in Liberto folding early on. Lee then flopped a set of fives and got a couple of streets of value from Liberto in Omaha Hi-Lo to pull back into the lead.

Despite the hit, Liberto wouldn’t be denied.

After regaining a slight chip lead in Big O, Liberto called a raise from Lee preflop and check-called a flop bet holding the nut flush draw. Liberto hit his draw on the turn and check-raised, only for Lee to move all in with a straight. Liberto called with the nut flush and nut low, and when the river sealed Liberto’s win, his rail erupted as he ended an 11-year bracelet drought.